Status Report

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 20 June 2006

By SpaceRef Editor

June 27, 2006

Filed under ISS, ISS On-orbit status, NASA HQ/SpaceRef/NASA Watch, US

NASA Space Station On-Orbit Status 20 June 2006 — http://images.spaceref.com/news/exp.13.jpg

SpaceRef note: This NASA Headquarters internal status report, as presented here, contains additional, original material produced by SpaceRef.com (copyright © 2006) to enhance access to related status reports and NASA activities.

All ISS systems continue to function nominally, except those noted previously or below.

After wakeup and before breakfast & first exercise, CDR Pavel Vinogradov and FE/SO Jeffrey Williams completed their fourth session with the Russian crew health-monitoring program’s medical assessment MO-9/Biochemical Urinalysis. Afterwards, the CDR stowed the Urolux hardware. [MO-9 is conducted regularly every 30 days (and also before and after EVAs) and is one of five nominal Russian medical tests adopted by NASA for U.S. crewmembers for IMG PHS (Integrated Medical Group/Periodic Health Status) evaluation as part of the “PHS/Without Blood Labs” exam. The clinical evaluation, performed yesterday by both crewmembers, is the second part of the PHS assessment. The analysis uses the sophisticated in-vitro diagnostic apparatus Urolux developed originally for the Mir program. Afterwards, the data are entered in the MEC (Medical Equipment Computer)’s special IFEP software (In-Flight Examination Program).]

Pavel Vinogradov also took his second health test with the cardiological experiment “Study of the Bioelectric Activity of the Heart at Rest” (PZEh MO-1), with the FE assisting as CMO (Crew Medical Officer). [During the 30-min. test, the crew tagged up with ground specialists on a Russian ground site (RGS) pass on Daily Orbit 13 (~7:17am EDT) via VHF and downlinked data from the Gamma-1M ECG (electrocardiograph) for about 5-6 minutes.]

Later in the day, the CDR unstowed and installed the equipment for the periodic Russian MO-10 “Hematokrit” testing that is scheduled tomorrow for both crewmembers. [MO-10 measures the hematocrit (red blood cell mass) value of the blood (it is a well-known phenomenon of space flight that red blood cell mass {normal range: 30-45%} tends to go down over time).]

The crew had two hours for detailed reviewing of the timeline for the ULF1.1 docked period, 7/3-7/13.

Some highlights are:

Nominal linkup of STS-121 on 7/3 will be at ~11:28am EDT, preceded by Discovery’s RPM (R-Bar Pitch Maneuver), during which Jeff and Pavel will shoot photos from Service Module (SM) windows 6 and 8 with 400mm and 800 mm lenses at ~600 ft for Orbiter tile acreage and door seal inspection, to be downlinked subsequently for analysis.
Sleep shifting for the station crew, done only after the Shuttle has launched, will move their wakeup time from the current 2:00am EDT to 4:43am, except for FD (Flight Day) 7, FD9 & FD11, when wakeup is 30 min. earlier, to support the Shuttle crew work day constraints on landing.
There will be seven hours of face-to-face handover with ESA cosmonaut Thomas Reiter, to prepare him for his extended mission as third ISS crewmember.
A total of 98 hrs. of MPLM “Leonardo” transfers and 30 hrs. of middeck transfers have been scheduled, of which over 50% will be handled by the ISS crew, including Reiter.
The SSRMS (Space Station Remote Manipulator) and the SRMS (Shuttle RMS) for MPLM transfer and OBSS (Orbiter Boom Sensor System) handover/grapple/testing will be operated by Lisa Nowak and Stephanie Wilson, initially assisted by Jeff Williams.
There will be two EVAs, plus the option for a third EVA, depending on consumables and a flight day extension.
The spacewalks will be conducted by Piers Sellers and Mike Fossum.
It is the first time for Shuttle EVA crewmembers to use the station’s “Quest” Airlock.
EVA-1, on FD5, will focus on load testing of the OBSS on the SRMS with a crewmember, plus the installation of a blade blocker on the zenith IUA (Interface Umbilical Assembly) of the MBS (Mobile Base System).
During EVA-2 on FD7 the spacewalkers will attach one FGB (Fixed Grapple Bar) on the spare EATC PM (Early Ammonia Thermal Control Pump Module) on the ICC (Integrated Cargo Carrier) in the Shuttle cargo bay for its subsequent transfer to and mounting on the ESP2 (External Stowage Platform 2), and install the new TUS RA (Trailing Umbilical System Reel Assembly) of the MBS, returning the failed assembly to the middeck.
The optional (unscheduled) EVA-3, on FD9, would test techniques for inspecting and repairing the RCC (reinforced carbon-carbon) segments of the Shuttle nose cone and wing leading edges, and a new IR (infrared) camera.

The crew also conducted a tagup with ground specialists to discuss equipment prepacking for the Shuttle, and FE Williams afterwards had ~1.5 hrs. for prepacking cargo for return to Earth on ULF1.1.

The CDR performed the periodic (monthly) functional closure test of a spare emergency vacuum valve (AVK) for the Vozdukh CO2 removal system, in the spare parts kit. [The AVKs are critical because they close the Vozdukh’s vacuum access lines in the event of a malfunction in the regular vacuum valves (BVK) or a depressurization in the Vozdukh valve panel (BOA). Access to vacuum is required to vent carbon dioxide (CO2) during the regeneration of the absorbent cartridges (PP). During nominal operation, the AVK valves remain open.]

Shuttle
Processing Status
News
Daily Mission
Return to Flight
ISS
Weekly Status
Weekly Science
Daily On-Orbit Status
Daily Crew Timeline
Soyuz | Progress
ISS News | ATV

Pavel Vladimirovich also updated/edited the standard IMS (Inventory Management System) “delta file”, including locations, for the regular weekly automated export/import to its three databases on the ground (Houston, Moscow, Baikonur), and later he completed the routine daily maintenance of the SOZh environment control & life support system in the SM, including the ASU toilet facilities systems/replaceables, plus the weekly inspection of the BRPK air/liquid condensate separator apparatus, and he also

Both crewmembers worked out in their regular 2.5-hr. physical exercise program (about half of which is used for setup & post-exercise personal hygiene) on the CEVIS cycle ergometer (FE), TVIS treadmill (CDR), RED resistive exerciser (FE) and VELO bike with bungee cord load trainer (CDR). ULF1.1 will deliver a new CEVIS in the MPLM and return the old cycle. [Pavel Vinogradov’s daily protocol prescribes a strict four-day microcycle exercise with 1.5 hr on the treadmill in unmotorized mode and one hour on VELO plus load trainer (today: Day 2 of the latest microcycle).]

Afterwards, Jeff transferred the exercise data files to the MEC for downlink, as well as the daily wristband HRM (Heart Rate Monitor) data of the workouts on RED, followed by their erasure on the HRM storage medium (done six times a week).

Still showing on Pavel’s “time permitting” discretionary task list for today was the search for some missing pieces of a complement of 26 CO2 filter units and six KL-152 TV cameras listed for return to Earth on ULF1.1.

At ~10:55am, the crew configured the television hardware for two interactive TV PAO events of about 9 minutes each starting at 11:07am, first with WMTV (Leigh Mills) in Madison, WI, and then with ABC News Radio (Richard Davies) in New York, NY. [This was another in-flight event aired live on NASA-TV and taped by the clients for later use, utilizing the NASA Television Digital Satellite System. Due to the signal encoding and decoding required, the relatively new digital satellite system has a 5-second audio delay between ISS and ground reception, and vice versa, for which the crew is prepared.]

A new suggestion for the next “Saturday Science” program for Science Officer Williams was uplinked for his perusal, dealing with the CBOSS FDI research complex (Cellular Biotechnology Operations Support Systems: Fluid Dynamics Investigation). [Possible activities for 6/24 would lead off with a CBOSS FDI task review, followed by an activity of injecting a fluid into a TCM (Tissue Culture Module) for determination of FDI injection rate, recorded by DCS 760 still camera and PD100 videocam.]

Today’s CEO (crew earth observations) photo targets, in the current LVLH attitude no longer limited by flight rule constraints on the use of the Lab nadir/science window, were Shoemaker Impact Crater, W Australia (near-nadir pass over this 30 km-diameter crater which was buried by sediment after being formed 1.6 billion years ago. It has since been re-exposed by erosion), Goat Paddock Impact Crater, W Australia (looking left for this 5-km-diameter crater which is relatively young [< 50 million years old]), and Piccaninny Impact Crater, W Australia (looking left for this 7-km-diameter crater [< 360 million-years old]).

Note: During the next week or two, ISS daylight “awake” passes will be located primarily in the Southern Hemisphere where lighting is approaching its seasonal minimum (Solstice is next week, 6/21) and winter weather will further reduce the crew’s viewing opportunities. Station tracks for now are also paralleling the terminator and sun angles will remain low. There will probably be a number of days where no suitable CEO target will be available for daily uplink.

To date, more than 198,000 of CEO images have been taken in the first five years of the ISS, almost one third of the total number of images taken from orbit by astronauts.

CEO photography can be viewed and studied at the websites:

See also the website “Space Station Challenge” at:

http://voyager.cet.edu/iss/

To view the latest photos taken by the expedition 13 crew visit:

http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/gallery/images/station/crew-13/ndxpage1.html at NASA’s Human Spaceflight website.

Expedition 13 Flight Crew Plans can be found at http://spaceflight.nasa.gov/station/timelines/

Previous NASA ISS On-orbit Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Station Status Reports can be found here. Previous NASA Space Shuttle Processing Status Reports can be found here. A collection of all of these reports and other materials relating to Return to Flight for the Space Shuttle fleet can be found here.

ISS Orbit (as of this morning, 7:41am EDT [= epoch]):